Tramel's ScissorTales: How OU could have helped Big Ten out of its primetime dilemma
Big Ten friction has flared over the conference’s impending television contract, according to an ESPN report this week, and one of the tentacles is this: OU and Texas could have been — and maybe were — intriguing options for Big Ten expansion.
It’s all horses under the bridge now, of course. OU and Texas will join the Southeastern Conference in 13 months, at the same time Southern Cal and UCLA join the Big Ten.
But it’s not que sera, sera. What will be didn’t have to be.
First, a quick update on the Big Ten turbulence. ESPN reported that in the wake of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren’s departure to the presidency of the Chicago Bears, his successor, Tony Petitti, has had to patch holes in the $1 billion television contract Warren negotiated with Fox, CBS and NBC.
The CliffsNotes of Big Ten problems, according to ESPN:
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● Paying back $40 million to Fox due to Warren giving NBC the 2026 Big Ten title game, despite Fox actually owning the rights to that game through its ownership of the Big Ten Network.
● Paying back $25 million over lost inventory from the 2020 pandemic season.
● Smooth over promises to NBC for November night games. The Big Ten historically had not played night games after early November, particularly tradition-rich schools Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, who apparently were unaware that the new contract gave NBC license to move northern kingdom games to primetime, even when the air bites shrewdly.
The latter issue, so-called “tolerances,” is where OU could have helped the Big Ten.
During the Big 12’s decade of stability — 2012-2021, when the league settled in with 10 schools after the departures of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri, and before the OU/Texas exodus — there were scant rumblings about the Sooners and the SEC.
But on a few rare occasions, Big Ten talk floated to the surface, and it centered around night games.
OU and Texas in the Big Ten would have given the cold-weather conference more access to night games. Now we know why that was such a big issue, that the completely-understandable reluctance of the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Nittany Lions to host in primetime was more than just a request.
Their “tolerances” were more like the stance of OU and Texas concerning a night kickoff for their Red River rumble at the State Fair of Texas: Not going to happen.
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But not only are the Sooners and Longhorns willing to play night games on campus, they much prefer it. In Norman, the bane of OU’s Big 12 existence is 11 a.m. kickoffs.
OU and Texas in the Big Ten would have been pressure-relief valves for high-profile conference night games, taking the onus off Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.
USC, which will join the Big Ten in July 2024, now can fill that role.
But the whole revelation prompts questions.
Did the Big Ten ever seek out OU and Texas? Did OU and Texas ever seek out the Big Ten?
Would OU and Texas be better off in the Big Ten than in the SEC? Would the Big Ten be better off with OU/Texas than USC/UCLA?
On the first two, I have no idea. In the same way that football coaches at a cocktail party end up talking about the viability of the single wing on the 21st-century gridiron, administrators probably talk about all kinds of wild ideas, from Star Trek transporters to paying coaches in crypto currency.
I’d be stunned if Joe Castiglione and Chris Del Conte (or Del Conte’s predecessors as Texas athletic director) didn’t at least discuss among themselves the value of Big Ten vs. SEC membership.
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My view?
The Big Ten would have been much better off with OU and Texas, than with USC and UCLA.
But OU and Texas will be marginally better off with the SEC than with the Big Ten.
My theories:
OU and Texas collectively are better brands than USC and UCLA. They are more geographically aligned with the Big Ten. And they bring more diverse marketing.
USC is the equal of OU and Texas in stature, but UCLA is not. At least not in football. The Longhorns have struggled in the sport that matters, but no one believes that is a permanent state. UCLA has struggled, too, but its glory days are not nearly as glorious as Texas’, and the Bruins seem to have a ceiling that UT does not.
The additions of USC and UCLA have raised alarms about Big Ten travel, particularly in the Olympic sports. Lincoln, Nebraska — the closest Big Ten school to Los Angeles — is 1,498 miles away, crossing two time zones.
Norman and Lincoln are 424 miles apart. OU and Texas would have given the Big Ten eight Central Time Zone members to go with its eight Eastern Time Zone members.
And stretching the Big Ten from Piscataway, New Jersey, to Austin, Texas, is not nearly as jolting as stretching from the shadow of New York City to Los Angeles.
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The media attractiveness of OU/Texas trumps USC/UCLA, especially when factoring in future streaming. Will UCLA football’s fan base pony up for Peacock or whatever streamer the Big Ten settles upon? Does UCLA football have a fan base?
The Big Ten would have been attractive to both Sooners and Longhorns. Starting with academics.
Despite former president David Boren’s persistent efforts, OU is not a member of the Association of American Universities, which might have been a deal-breaker for the Big Ten. But if the Big Ten was willing, the Sooners would have reaped all kinds of academic benefits with Big Ten membership.
Financially, the Big Ten and SEC probably are a wash.
Competitively, the Big Ten likely would have been easier. For the long haul, the likes of Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana State get a narrow nod over Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Then you’ve got Florida, Texas A&M, Auburn and Tennessee, which seem tougher than Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa and Minnesota.
Culturally, though, the Sooners seem a better fit for the SEC. Huge fan bases, sold-out to football, recruiting most of the same areas, etc., along with a commitment to a lot of other sports.
Better geographic fit, too.
OU in the Big Ten would have been fascinating. But OU in the SEC will be fascinating, too.
So the Big Ten moves forward with USC and UCLA, a major experiment in disregarding all geographic considerations.
And the Big Ten’s “tolerance” schools are making some concessions.
Ohio State this season is hosting Michigan State on the night of Nov. 11, which will be the latest date for a primetime game in Ohio Stadium history.
And Michigan State and Penn State have agreed to play on Black Friday, Nov. 24, moving the game up a day but also moving it from East Lansing, Michigan, to Detroit’s domed Ford Field, to avoid the cold.
Come 2024, USC and UCLA can help alleviate that night-game reluctance. OU and Texas would have done the same, without the Big Ten having to cross the Continental Divide.
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Dave Aranda gives Baylor quarterbacks fair warning
Give Baylor football coach Dave Aranda credit. He doesn’t play games with his quarterbacks.
For the second straight spring, Aranda has announced a starting quarterback coming out of spring practice. For the second straight year, the winner of the Bears’ QB derby is Blake Shapen, but that’s sort of beside the point.
A year ago, Aranda picked Shapen as the starter, giving 2021 starter Gerry Bohanon full knowledge of the situation. Bohanon then transferred to South Florida.
This week, Aranda again named Shapen as his starter, after a spring competition with Mississippi State transfer Sawyer Robertson.
It won’t be as easy for Robertson to transfer as it was for Bohanon — Robertson got to Waco just in January. But other players have made quick transfers, and in this age of NCAA leniency with waivers for multiple transfers, it’s possible that Robertson can leave, too, and be eligible immediately.
That’s why Aranda’s stance is admirable. He’s truthful with his quarterbacks, when many coaches don’t commit until it’s too late for players to transfer for that particular season.
With Bohanon injured, Shapen quarterbacked Baylor to a 21-16 victory over OSU in the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game. In 2022, Shapen’s performance was mixed. He completed 63.3 percent of his passes, with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and Baylor slipped to a 6-7 season.
Robertson, a highly-recruited player in the 2021 class, played in five games for Mississippi State in 2022 but threw just 11 passes. He has three years eligibility remaining.
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Michael Winger takes swing with Wizards
The Washington Wizards are hiring Michael Winger as general manager, and Winger becomes the latest Sam Presti protégé to try to lift a moribund NBA franchise.
Presti has a great track record of placing his lieutenants into NBA general manager jobs. Those lieutenants do not have a great track record in excelling at those jobs.
Portland hired away Rich Cho in 2010. Orlando hired away Rob Hennigan in 2012. The Clippers hired away Winger in 2017. Detroit hired away Troy Weaver in 2020. All were Presti protégés.
So far, only Winger has had success — the Clippers have built good rosters and had some playoff success, yet he was not in charge of basketball operations. Lawrence Frank runs the Clipper front office.
Cho was fired by Portland within a year (and eventually hired and fired as the Charlotte general manager), Hennigan was fired by Orlando in 2017 and Weaver’s Pistons have yet to even challenge for a playoff berth.
And now Winger has accepted a potentially-fruitless task. The Wizards are one of the NBA’s most futile franchises — in the last 40 years, Washington has just 10 winning seasons, 15 playoff appearances and only four playoff advancements, none past the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Wizards are in a perpetual state of rebuild. Their roster is void of young talent. Washington’s record the last three years is the most Wizard-like thing of all — 35-47, 35-47, 34-48.
Bradley Beal is an aging star, Kristaps Porzingis is an intriguing 27-year-old and the rest of the roster is mostly journeymen.
Winger has his work cut out.
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The List: Big 12 Baseball Tournament
Most college conference championships are dominated by a few schools. The Big 12 is no exception.
But the Big 12 Baseball Tournament is a bright light of parity. The 2023 Big 12 Tournament is being staged this week in Arlington, Texas.
This is the 26th Big 12 Baseball Tournament, which means 25 champions, and remarkably, they come from 10 programs. Only 14 schools have been Big 12 members, and only a dozen of those 14 play baseball.
Yet 10 of the 12 have won the Big 12 Tournament. Compare that with basketball, which has staged 26 Big 12 Tournaments, with only six schools out of 14 having won the title (Kansas, OSU, OU, Iowa State, Missouri and Texas).
The only baseball-playing schools without a conference tournament title are West Virginia and Kansas State.
Here are the schools ranked by Big 12 Baseball Tournament titles:
5 Texas: 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2015
4 Nebraska: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005
3 OSU: 2004, 2017, 2019
3 OU: 1997, 2013, 2022
3 Texas Christian: 2014, 2016, 2021
3 Texas A&M: 2007, 2010, 2011
1 Texas Tech: 1998
1 Kansas: 2006
1 Missouri: 2012
1 Baylor: 2018
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Mailbag: Jabbar vs. LeBron
LeBron James is a polarizing figure, for reasons that escape me. But so was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Just one more thing the two legendary NBA players have in common. And a reader quite adeptly makes a great comparison.
Chris: “When LeBron surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in career scoring, I cannot remember exactly how you phrased it, but something like ‘LeBron has played 20 seasons better than anybody ever has.’ I agree with that statement to an extent, but is Lebron the most accomplished?
“Titles: Kareem 6, LeBron 4
“NBA Finals: Kareem 10, LeBron 10
“Season MVPs: Kareem 6, LeBron 4
“Finals MVPs: Kareem 2, LeBron 4
“NBA all-star: Kareem 19, LeBron 19
“First-team all-NBA: Kareem 10, LeBron 13
“Second-team all-NBA: Kareem 5, LeBron 3
NBA all-defense: Kareem 5, LeBron 5
Rookie of the year: Kareem 1, LeBron 1
“All-time NBA scoring: Kareem 2nd, LeBron 1st
“All-time NBA assists: Kareem 49th, LeBron 4th
“All-time NBA rebounding: Kareem 4th, LeBron 35th
“All-time NBA block shots: Kareem 3rd, LeBron 92nd
“All-time NBA steals: Kareem 114th, LeBron 10th
“NCAA titles: Kareem 3, LeBron 0
Final Four MVPs: Kareem 3, LeBron 0
College player of the year: Kareem 3, LeBron 0
“Even without the college accolades, I’m not of the opinion that LeBron has surpassed Kareem in accolades. If we judge NFL QBs in Super Bowl wins instead of appearances, then we have to do the same for NBAers. Otherwise Jim Kelly and Joe Montana are on equal footing, or Fran Tarkenton and Troy Aikman.
“Note: Lebron is 22-33 in NBA Finals games. Jordan is 24-11. Jabbar is 30-27. Of course, Bill Russell was 46-26. None of these records account for injuries, so we know that Kareem did not play in one game in 1980 and Magic played center, so Jabbar is really 29-27.”
Tramel: I love this kind of stuff. As everyone shoulder know, remembering Jabbar’s college career is a passion of mine. I think it’s fair to say that Jabbar had the greatest basketball career of all time, factoring in every level.
As for an NBA career, clearly LeBron and Jabbar are close. But I would go with LeBron, for a couple of reasons related to Chris’ essay.
I don’t judge NFL quarterbacks solely on Super Bowl wins. I would put Tarkenton ahead of Aikman. Making 10 NBA Finals (with four championships for LeBron, six for Jabbar) is a monumental achievement. I would point out — not argue — that LeBron made more of those Finals than did Jabbar without an all-time teammate, though both usually were well-surrounded.
LeBron as a 22-year-old led the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals, and Cleveland’s second-best player was Larry Hughes. I did not make that up. That's the greatest player-leading-team achievement in NBA history.
And while LeBron barely nudges ahead of Jabbar in first- or second-team all-NBA selections (16-15), LeBron also has had three third-team all-NBA honors. Third-team all-NBA wasn’t unavailable until Jabbar’s final season, 1988-89, and he no longer was a star caliber player by then. The other four years that Jabbar didn’t make all-NBA, twice he wouldn’t have made it even with a third-team option (1987, 1988; Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, etc., were hoggins those slots). But in 1975 and 1982, Jabbar likely would have made third-team.
Still, that’s 19 all-NBA selections for LeBron in 20 years. All but his rookie year. And he was Rookie of the Year that season.
It’s close. But LeBron has had the better NBA career.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Would OU, Texas have better fit for Big Ten than USC, UCLA?
